Queens of the Stone Age, Lullabies to Paralyse

The blurb for Lullabies to Paralyse compares it to a pagan ritual involving woodland dancing around a campfire. If anything, the album is more disturbing. Full of unsettling undercurrents, it is something like Bowie's Diamond Dogs fused with Blair Witch Project.

Ostensibly, this follow-up to 2002's fab Songs for the Deaf documents the bitter split between frontman Josh Homme and his childhood friend/creative foil Nick Olivieri, best known for performing naked; it's not difficult to guess who is the target of the chorus of Everybody Knows That You're Insane. However, Homme has emerged with the best songs of his career.

Lullabies splits between twisted, skewed rock anthems and eerie reveries such as the whispery Someone's in the Wolf. The songs' interest level is heightened by aural mind games: sounds of what could be devil worship, and at least one audible "stabbing".